29.1 Parental leave is a flexible form of unpaid leave designed to help employees spend time caring for children. It is usually taken in instalments over the first 18 years of a child’s life and is available to employees who have at least one year’s service and who have formal parental responsibility for a child.
29.2 The basic entitlement is to 18 weeks of unpaid leave in respect of each child. It must usually be taken before each child’s 18th birthday.
29.3 Parental leave must usually be taken in blocks of one week or more and no more than four weeks’ leave will be granted in a single year. However, more flexibility is available in respect of disabled children and you should discuss your requirements with senior management if this applies to you.
29.4 A request to take parental leave should be submitted 21 days in advance. While the Company will always try to accommodate requests for parental leave, it has the right to postpone any leave for up to six months in order to accommodate business need.
29.5 No postponement will be required if you choose to take your first instalment of leave immediately after the birth or adoption of your child. In such circumstances you need only inform the Company of your intention 21 days before the expected date of birth or placement. The leave will then begin automatically when your child is born or placed with you.
29.6 Parental leave is an entitlement that can be transferred from one employment to another. You may therefore join the Company with some outstanding parental leave attaching to a particular child. In such circumstances you should be aware that the qualifying period for taking parental leave still applies and you will need to have been employed for at least one year before you can resume taking parental leave.
Shared Parental Leave
29.7 Shared parental leave is a flexible form of leave available to both parents designed to encourage shared parenting in the first year of a child’s life. It allows a more flexible pattern of leave than the traditional arrangement under which the mother takes extensive maternity leave and the father takes a short period of paternity leave.
29.8 Employees who give birth or adopt remain entitled to take the full 52 weeks of leave if they choose to do so and the arrangements described above for maternity and adoption leave continue to apply. However, an employee may choose to share part of that leave with their partner provided that certain qualifying conditions are met. When leave is shared in this way, there is no need for the ‘primary’ leave taker to have returned to work. Both parents can be on leave at the same time, provided that the combined amount of leave taken by the parents does not exceed 52 weeks and provided that all of the leave is taken before the end of 52 weeks following the birth of the child or its placement for adoption.
29.9 Generally, parents will qualify for shared parental leave provided that both are working and that each has at least 26 weeks’ service with their respective employers. To exercise the right, both parents must inform their employer that they intend to take shared parental leave – usually at the same time as the employer is notified that an employee is pregnant or plans to adopt. They must also give an indication of the pattern of leave that they propose to take.
29.10 A parent proposing to take a period of shared parental leave must give the Company 8 weeks’ notice of any such leave. Depending on the circumstances, it may be possible for the Shared Parental Leave to be taken in intermittent blocks, with one parent returning to work for a time before taking another period of shared parental leave.
29.11 Such an arrangement can only be made with the agreement of the Company. While every effort will be made to accommodate the needs of individual employees, the Company may insist on shared parental leave being taken in a single instalment. Any decision as to whether to permit intermittent periods of leave is entirely at the Company’s discretion.
29.12 An employee absent on shared parental leave will be entitled to a weekly payment equivalent to the lower fixed rate of SMP. The number of weeks for which payment will be made will vary depending on the amount of SMP paid to the mother while on maternity leave. Essentially, if the mother ends (or proposes to end) her leave with 10 weeks of SMP entitlement remaining, the parent taking shared parental leave will be entitled to be paid for the first 10 weeks of leave.
29.13 Because of the number of options available, shared parental leave can be quite a complicated entitlement. If you want to take advantage of shared parental leave you should discuss this with senior management who will check that you qualify and help guide you through the procedure.
Keeping In Touch Days/Shared Parental Leave Days
29.14 Employees during a period of maternity and adoption leave are entitled to 10 keeping in touch days (KIT days). These allow the employee to attend work to catch up on the latest developments, undergo training or some other development activity, or to take part in important meetings without losing their right to subsequent pay entitlements. Employees on shared parental leave are also entitled to 20 shared parental leave in touch days (SPLIT days).
29.15 KIT days and SPLIT days are entirely voluntary and employees will not be required to take part, nor is the Company under any obligation to arrange for KIT or SPLIT days.
29.16 Any payment for attending work on such days will be agreed between the Company and the employee at the time the KIT or SPLIT day is arranged. There is no legal requirement to receive pay for these days.
During Maternity or Shared Parental Leave
29.17 The Company is keen to keep in touch with employees who are on extended periods of leave, to inform them of any news and consult them over any changes which may take place in the business. However, Senior Management appreciate that many employees would prefer to be left alone at this very important time in their lives. In order to get the balance right, your manager may, before your leave begins, discuss with you how best we (nursery and Senior Management) can keep in touch while you are away.
29.18 Please be aware, however, that if an important issue arises on which you need to be consulted, the Company may have a legal obligation to discuss the issue with you and keep you informed.
Neonatal Care Leave
29.19 Employees are entitled to statutory neonatal care leave (SNCL) if a child born on or after 6 April 2025, for whom they have parental responsibility, is receiving, or has received, “neonatal care” which started within 28 days of birth and has lasted for seven full consecutive days, not counting the day on which the care starts (and in adoption cases, not counting any time spent in neonatal care before being placed/entering GB) (the “qualifying period”). “Neonatal care” means medical care in hospital or any continuing hospital outpatient care (including monitoring and home visits from healthcare professionals directed by a consultant and arranged by the hospital), or palliative/end-of-life care. The SNCL must be taken for the purpose of caring for the child (save for a subsequent bereavement).
29.20 SNCL can be taken in weekly blocks for every uninterrupted week their child received neonatal care, starting no earlier than the day after the qualifying period (as above), up to a maximum of 12 weeks, and must be taken within 68 weeks of the birth. So, for the first week of SNCL taken, the earliest it can start is on day 9 of being in neonatal care.
29.21 Up until the 7th day after the child stops receiving neonatal care (including if it stops but starts again within 28 days of birth and providing the qualifying period is met), the weekly blocks can be taken either continuously or non-continuously. After that, the weekly blocks must be taken continuously.
Notification
29.22 Up until the 7th day after the child stops receiving neonatal care you only need to give notice to us to take SNCL before you are due to start work on the first day of each week of leave or, where this is not possible, as soon as reasonably practicable. If you have already started work, then officially your SNCL period will start on the following day.
29.23 When giving notice you must specify: the child’s date of birth; in adoption cases, the date of placement or the date the child entered GB; the date(s) the child started to receive neonatal care; if it stopped, the date(s) it ended; the date(s) you wish SNCL to begin and how many weeks for; confirmation you are taking the leave to care for the child; and if it is the first notice for that child, confirmation you meet the eligibility requirements as to family relationship with the child.
29.24 Where the neonatal care is ongoing, you must notify us of the date the care ends, as soon as is reasonably practicable. If the child starts to receive neonatal care again, you must notify us of the start date and the end date, as soon as reasonably practicable in each case.
29.25 You can give the above notice by telephone or by email or by letter. However, if telephoning, it would be helpful if it was subsequently put in writing at least within 28 days of the first day your SNCL in order to maintain an accurate record of what is being requested, and in any event must be done so if claiming statutory neonatal care pay (see below).
29.26 After 7 days after the child stops receiving neonatal care, you need to give us at least 15 days’ notice if you want to take a single week of SNCL, or at least 28 days’ notice if you want to take two or more consecutive weeks’ of SNCL. The notice must be in writing and specify the same information as set out above. You can cancel it and/or rebook it with the same amount of notice.
Neonatal Care Pay
29.27 To qualify for statutory neonatal care pay (SNCP) during SNCL, you must have average weekly earnings of at least the lower earnings limit and at least 26 weeks’ continuous employment by the end of the relevant week, which is: the 15th week before the expected week of childbirth (in birth and surrogacy cases); the week in which the adoption agency or local authority notified you of a match (in UK adoption cases); or the week before the neonatal care starts (in any other case). You will already meet these criteria if you have qualified for statutory maternity/paternity/adoption/shared parental pay. It is paid at the same rate as statutory paternity pay, which is subject to change every year. You can check the most up-to-date figure with your line manager.
29.28 Up until the 7th day after the child stops receiving neonatal care, to claim SNCP you must give notice in writing stating the week(s) in respect of which the payments are to be made and with the same information specified as when claiming SNCL, within 28 days of starting any period of SNCL you are claiming SNCP for. You can provide this information at the same time as giving notice to take SNCL, so long as it is in writing.
29.29 After 7 days after the child stops receiving Neonatal Care, to claim SNCP you must give us the same amount of notice and same information, in writing, as you must give if you want to take SNCL and state the week(s) in respect of which payments are to be made.
Interaction with other family leave
29.30 SNCL is in addition to other forms of statutory leave, so long as it is taken within 68 weeks of the child’s birth. So, for example, if you are taking maternity / adoption / paternity leave, you may add a period of SNCL onto the end of that leave. It acts as a “top up” to give back an amount of statutory family leave that an employee has effectively lost while their child is receiving neonatal care.
29.31 If your SNCL is interrupted by the start of another pre-booked period of statutory family leave (such as paternity leave, parental leave or shared parental leave) then the interrupted SNCL period will resume straight away after the end the other leave, provided the neonatal care is still ongoing or has ended within the last week. If the neonatal care ended more than a week ago, the remainder of the interrupted NCL must be taken consecutively with any further period of NCL that you are intending to take. Also, if the neonatal care ended more than a week ago and you want to book NCL, you should ensure that it will not be interrupted by the start of another period of family leave you have booked.